Preserve All The CItrus!

[hrj]

Sometimes you just need to have an intensive fruit-processing day. I've been soliciting interesting things to do with lemons over on facebook, and had an orange curd recipe that Lauri sent me, and I finally got the first serious crop of kumquats from my kumquat bush, plus the first two buddha's hand citron from that tree, so it was time to have some fun.

Candied Kumquats

I've done versions of this before that involved piercing the kumquats and then packing them in their syrup. So, more like kumquat preserves than candied. This time I went for a really simple version: Make a heavy syrup (2 parts white sugar to 1 part water). Wash the kumquats and heat them in the syrup until simmering, then turn it off and let sit covered until the next day. For as many days as seems necessary, bring the fruit and syrup up to a simmer, then turn it off and let sit. When the fruit is looking properly saturated (it's almost there) I'm going to finish them on racks in the food dryer on the lowest setting.

Candied Citron of Various Types

I had two citrons and thought I'd experiment with several recipes. (I did candied citron once before with store-bought standard citron and ... it was rather boring.) So I washed the fruit and pulled it apart into "fingers". I took the nicest looking finger-like parts, split them in half long-ways, and added them to the kumquat syrup bath process. Then I took the less presentable "fingers" bits and sliced them thinly across the grain. (Looks a little bit like slices of brain.) I added those to the kumquat syrup too, but once the candied fruit pieces are finished, I'm going to render the rest down to marmelade. Then I took the really pithy bottom parts of the citron, sliced them thinly, and stuffed them into the remains of the bottle of Everclear that I bought a year ago to make hand sanitizer with. (I'd promised I'd supply FOGCon with hand sanitizer and there was a run on it when Covid precautions were first being talked up, so I had to make my own.) So the idea is to get citron-infused alcohol to use as an ingredient in stuff.

Lemons

I got three great suggestions for lemons: preserved salted lemons, lemon pesto, and a recipe actually intended for oranges called "oleo-saccharum".

The salted lemons recipes all boil down to: cut lemons in quarters, pack in a quart mason jar with salt, let sit until pickled.

Oleo-saccharum is more ore less: thinly peel or zest your fruit and pack tightly in a jar with alternating layers of sugar. When the sugar has drawn out the citrus oil and formed a syrup, strain it off and use it to flavor things. (I'll probably freeze the spent zest for use as well.)

I haven't tried the lemon pesto yet, but I've found a couple of variants. They are all based around lemons, almonds, hard cheese, and olive oil, with various other optional additives.

Now for the really tricky part: remembering all the stuff I've preserved and remembering to *use* it!

Comments

[kareina]

I was a little confused when I read this, since the Swedish word for lemon is citron, but it didn't take much effort to figure out that you weren't speaking Swedish, and you didn't mean lemon. Now I have gone and had a look at wikipedia, learned of a plant I didn't know existed, and have seen a picture of those "fingers" you are describing. That fruit is kinda disturbing looking...

[hrj]

I believe some people refer to them as "Cthulhu lemons". And they have no actual purpose to their existence other than to look weird. I suppose you could also view them as a way to get a high peel-to-pulp ratio in a citron.

[evil_macaroni]

I made a Buddha's Hand limoncello recently. It worked out very well! Your citrus projects sound delicious!

[hrj]

I'm trying to get a feel for how citron tastes in various contexts so I know what to do once I'm getting them in quantities. I really should do a limoncello as part of my current lemon crop.

[madbaker]

I usually add a cinnamon stick, a bay leaf, and a bunch of peppercorns to my salted lemon jar. I can't swear that it really adds anything, but hey.

[hrj]

I may try that in the future. For now, I"m focusing more on basic mechanics.

[threadwalker]

I'm curious about salted lemons. What...how....where?

How do you use them after? Do you brush off the salt?

[hrj]

It seems to be a pickle-type preservation method. You rinse off the salt before use. Not quite as necessary if one has a variety of lemon that gets 2-3 crops a year. Or if one has a handy grocery store. But I could see it developing historically in a pre-refrigeration culture with mono-crop lemon varieties.